Avoiding discrimination was why the tourist tax had to be applied to Balearic residents when it was introduced in 2016, but discrimination has characterised both the current tax and the original ecotax of 2002 to 2003. The hoteliers, furious enough with the 2002 tax, were doubly so because the mechanism was such that only they collected it; holiday lets didn’t.
The tourists who fly under the radar
There is a distinction between tourist and non-tourist accommodation
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I have less of a problem with the tax itself, but more of a problem with the system of collecting it. It's largely unaccounted for, it opens some big opportunities for fraud (overcharging, profiteering, etc.) and furthermore, it appears that it may be spent in irrelevant ways. Not much accounting for it. I've always thought it might be less cumbersome and more accountable to simply collect it from the airlines and ferries. Add a few euros to the fares. Probably would generate a lot more income and would be far simpler and less burdensome for everybody. But then, don't set some expectation that it's going to be spent on "sustainable tourism" if that's not what it's going to be spent on, and then nobody would be arguing whether they're a tourist or not or whether they should or shouldn't have to pay it . Don't even call it "tourist tax".